News and Events

Ural State University of Railway Transport
USURT

Личный кабинет студента
и преподавателя

The EU – USURT - Kazakhstan – transit on HSR

14.05.2019

USURT among three Russian Universities will be included into the specialist training program in the field of high-speed railways (HSR) within the «Erasmus+» program. Kiselyov Igor Pavlovich, professor of the St. Petersburg State Transport University and Head of project office for the international programs reported about it at a press conference. He also added that costs of the specialist training in the field of high-speed railways would be compensated by the European Union.

In total, nine higher education institutions participate in the project. These are three Universities from Russia (PGUPS, USURT and FESTU), three Universities from the European Union (Dresden University of Technology, University of Economics in Katowice and Polytechnic University of Madrid) and three higher education institutions from Kazakhstan.   

The program purpose, work on which began in November last year, is a creation of the system of two-year training of masters in the field of high-speed railways. Training of students will be provided in English.

We talked with Zhuravskaya Marina Arkadyevna, an Associate Professor of World Economy and Logistics, she knows about this project firsthand and here that she told.

In 2018 the University won the application «Economics, Ecology and Infrastructure at High-Speed Railways" according to the «Erasmus+» program (new turn of development of international projects, the successor of «Tempus»). Such program will substantially expand opportunities of our University in the areas of education, science and international sphere.

The main difficulty consists in the fact that in Russia there is no common standard of the organization of master’s studies in a foreign language and legislatively approved dual degree program. At the present time, the main objective is development of modules in English. And the question is, on basis of what master’s studies of USURT it is possible to organize this training. Together with Morozova Elena Nikolaevna, the Head of Training and Methodical Department, we carried out the analysis of master programs and revealed that the basic part which would be implemented at Dresden University of Technology fits any our master program. Therefore, the Vice Rector for Scientific Work, Bushuyev Sergey Valentinovich, suggested to make competitive selection at USURT among departments with master programs. The Head who has more potential, best opportunities and will show more interest can continue to develop this direction. The master’s studies at HSR will provide an influx of students to the University, especially if the budgetary places are allocated, and students will have a great chance to study abroad without leaving their home University.  

In March 2019, representatives of participating higher education institutions from Russia and Kazakhstan got acquainted with work of the European partner Universities. The delegation from USURT included the Dean of Electromechanical Faculty Tsikhalevsky Igor Stanislavovich, the Director of International Department Shilkova Evgenia Sergeyevna and the initiator of the project, the Associate Professor of World Economy and Logistics Zhuravskaya Marina Arkadyevna. Activity of the European colleagues was really impressing. For example, colleagues from Poland (University of Economics in Katowice) surprised with implementation of interuniversity library including both classical storage of books, and the newest technologies of storage and use of library resources. When several higher education institutions cooperate and create a uniform library system, it allows, on the one hand, to considerably expand a library range, and on the other, to minimize financial resources of concrete higher education institution. In Dresden University of Technology at Institute of Transport admiration was caused by laboratory of organization the movement of trains: models of normal and high-speed trains move on a huge ring at several levels through the traffic-transfer hubs. It is similar to the models of our student's group «Levsha», but far bigger.

Colleagues from Spain created great national laboratories where there were world-class researches. Students of Polytechnic University of Madrid, of course, have no opportunity to be on serious tests, but post-graduate, doctoral and master students can watch them and also use the results of experiments for writing articles and theses.

Additionally, the excursion to the «Talgo» company was organized in Madrid. The company is one of the leading global railway manufacturers. The main advantage of «Talgo» is unique technology of break of gauge, including for the HSR rolling stock.

For reference: rail gauge in Russia – 1520 mm, in Spain – 1668 mm, and in the rest of Europe – 1435 mm. In such conditions it is quite problematic to organize a cross-cutting HSR track through all continent: The Talgo rolling stock, equipped with the unique system of adjustable-gauge wheelsets, provides non-stop train movement by the railways with different rail gauges and, as a result, sizeable savings in travel time due to fast passing of docking stations without disturbing passengers.  

Note that HSR allow train speeds up to 320-350 km/h and above. In Russia high-speed train movement is carried out on the normal railways which are only partially modernized for compliance with new speeds – 200-250 km/h. On the website of JSC "Russian Railways" perspective projects for construction of HSR are specified: Moscow – Kazan – Yekaterinburg; Moscow – St. Petersburg; Moscow – Rostov-on-Don – Adler. However, the construction of HSR is at the level of discussion so far.

The March trip was very rich and intense, but with a friendly atmosphere. Speaking about further plans, it should be noted that in September 2019 colleagues from higher education institutions of the EU and Kazakhstan will get acquainted with the Russian participating Universities. Acquaintance will begin with Khabarovsk – FESTU, then in the Urals at USURT and finish in St. Petersburg at PGUPS. Scientists and teachers of our University will have a fine opportunity to communicate with foreign colleagues, exchange experience and make suggestions. We invite all interested persons to cooperation.